Conventionally, techniques for remotely activating a communication device in a standby state through a network have been widely known. For example, a wake-on local area network (LAN) method of transmitting a magic packet (a registered trademark) on a network of an IEEE 802.3 standard and a wake-on wireless LAN method of transmitting a magic packet on a network of an IEEE 802.11 standard are known. These techniques can be easily introduced because remote activation can be implemented using existing network infrastructure. However, there has been a problem in that a considerable amount of power is consumed in awaiting reception of a magic packet.
There is a technique of awaiting an activation signal at low power consumption by detecting a regular change in a radio wave. There is also a technique of using an existing communication infrastructure by representing the presence and absence of a regular radio wave with a frame of the IEEE 802.11 standard. Further, there is a technique of setting a network allocation vector (NAV) (a transmission suppression time), which corresponds to a period of time until an activation signal ends, to a frame of the IEEE 802.11 standard for creating the activation signal. This technique prevents, while a communication device is transmitting the activation signal, another communication device other than a communication partner from transmitting a radio wave. Thus, the activation signal is more accurately transmitted. Further, there is a technique of calculating a time until an activation signal ends and individually setting a value of the NAV each time when a frame of the IEEE 802.11 standard for creating the activation signal is transmitted. Furthermore, there is a wireless communication technique of changing a transmission rate of information to be transmitted on a carrier wave and transmitting new information in addition to the information. An example of the new information is a state transition signal.